Author Archives: managementnextblog
The one-third formula For Your Business – Subhakar Rao
Thoughts on Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid:
Over 5 billion poor at the Bottom of the Pyramid are below the radar screens of most companies. If these 5 billion microconsumers who are at the bottom of the pyramid are mobilized and targeted for your product/solution/service, they would be an engine of great corporate growth across the world for you.
Technology is becoming cheaper. Even the poor now have access to similar technology as the rich and are buying similar equipment like mobile phones, may be with lesser bells and whistles. More people at the bottom of the pyramid are moving up from living under a dollar a day. Democratizing Commerce is going to be the goal ahead for companies that want to reach these 5 billion at the bottom of the pyramid and get rich from the wealth these 5 billion consumers spend.
Thoughts on leadership
Leaders must lead. You can’t lead unless you are future oriented. In reality, leadership is about the future, It is about hope that we create for our team in the future. Leadership eventually is about embracing change. Leaders are like Sheep Dogs, they are always behind pushing the sheep ahead. Just like the sheep dog, leaders can bark but not bite, Don’t lose thegood sheep in your team. Direct them like a sheep dog does in the right direction.
Today, we could be offering a range of marketing outsourcing solutions, but we keep ourselves on the edge asking“Are we making more than a third of revenue via new ways that didn’t exist a couple of years ago?”. The answer keeps guiding us on the Innovation path ahead!!
Thoughts on competitive advantage and core competencies of a firm
Consumers and firms are changing their roles. The power of the consumer and the power of the company is getting re-balanced. Everybody in the company has to create value – 5 billion micro consumers are waiting to buy. In the age of the internet, the source of underlying advantage is technology. Cost of technology is not going to be a limiting factor but our capacity to understand how to use this technology is going to be.
Talent is one of the critical resource for running companies. Capacities to get people from different parts of the world willbe a competitive advantage. Today, talent matters more than we thought. Technology matters more than we thought.
Thoughts on innovation
Very few companies have proven themselves to be adept at inventing new markets and quickly entering emerging markets. Very few are passing this simple innovation test. Curious ofwhat this test is, just ask yourself, “Are we deriving one third of our revenue this year from Products/Solutions/Services that didn’t exist in our offerings couple of years ago?”. If yes, yours is an innovative firm. If not, you have to pace up your innovation and idea engine.
The Champions Group evolved primarily in the marketing outsourcing space in the last decade driving focus on our “marketing data quality” as our “core competency.” Ourgrowth from a small company to over a 1500 people firm has been driven by intense focus on innovation. Today, we could be offering a range of marketing outsourcing solutions, but we keep ourselves on the edge asking “Are we making more thana third of revenue via new ways that didn’t exist a couple of years ago?”. The answer keeps guiding us on the Innovation path ahead!!
An Interview with Subhakar Rao, CEO of Champions Group – Secret Behind Successful Corporate Rewards and Recognition
The Bangalore-based Champions Group’s innovative and robust rewards and recognition mechanism has contributed to negligible attrition, very high performance and rapid growth of the 1,500-employee group. In a chat with Management Next, chairman Subhakar Rao talks about what inspired him, how he manages to run the R&R process effectively with a dash of zest and how the diverse group has benefited immensely.
My mom used to say, “The real pride of a parent is not when their son or daughter is born, but when THEY get recognized in public for their kids’ accomplishments.” I was inspired by these words during my tenth class and went on to top the school, college and then got into business. It dawned on me when she died a couple of years ago that I couldn’t get her to be recognized in public but the least I can do is to carry her wishes forward by recognizing our employees’ parents.
Thus came to life our monthly Champion Parents Awards. The awards have not only brought pride among the parents but also intense commitment to the enterprise. I had a situation where one of our employees, whom we call ‘Champions’showed up at work the very next day after his father died and when I showed concern he said, “My father would expect me to be at work. My dad was ailing badly when we did the Champion Parents Award recognition and he died a very peaceful death a couple of months after that with happy memories.”
We have R&R functions every month at each of the three buildings of our companies. These events not only help us recognize a couple of parents a month, but also help us recognize our top performing employees often (monthly, not once a quarter or year).
You can see more information about Champion Parents awards here.
Success of any vibrant R&R system?
R&R success is about consistent motivation. Just as you take bath everyday, rewards and recognition has to be often to succeed. Today, you can personalize most of the stuff and the value goes through the roof when you do that. The secret behind any R&R success is recognition in public – the outcome is a positively energized workforce that produces far better results. It makes business sense too.
Winning is a good habit. Celebrating in style often is even better.
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How to build synergy between HR and Knowledge Management
How can KM help HR? And, how can corporate HR improve knowledge capacity in an organisation. How can HR and KM metrics be aligned? These and other issues were discussed at the May 2011 meeting of the Bangalore K-Community. Panelists from Nokia, Oracle, Unisys and Wipro addressed a number of interesting issues on the topic By Madanmohan Rao.
HR professionals in Indian organisations are facing serious challenges of scale, growth, cost-pressures, competition and diversity. Knowledge retention is a key challenge due to high churn, and competitive pressures mean new employees have to be brought up to speed extra fast.
How can KM help HR? And, how can corporate HR improve knowledge capacity in an organisation – via KM workshops awards and formal KRAs for knowledge work, for instance? How can HR and KM metrics be aligned? Externally, how are Indian colleges and universities responding to the KM and innovation needs of Indian companies, and how can enterprise HR and KM partner with them in this regard?
Knowledge sharing comes naturally to digital natives Students by nature tend to share their work and discuss it with their peers; when they join the workforce this sharing nature is amplified by social media. However, many of their innovative behaviours and risk-taking attitudes tend to get stamped out by the uniformity of corporate life. Hence, knowledge managers should pay special attention to tapping the sincerity and curiosity of digital natives.
Smart CKOs should be right at the head table with the CEO, aligning KM activities with organisational strategy
Use metrics, make big money
By using right metrics, entrepreneurs can make more money over the long term than they can ever imagine, says Michelangelo Celli, an expert in CEO Vision Marketing, with Pittsburg-based Cornucopia Group, in a chat with Benedict Paramanand while he was in Bangalore recently
You speak about private business CEOs beating Wall Street hands down
We have designed measurement metrics that are designed to help business owners realize that you can make money many times over than on Wall Street or your local stock market. Our CEO Vision Marketing method offers CEOs a “systems way of thinking” for a 360-degree view of their B2B marketing and sales operations.
The thinking that marketing should lead to sales and branding to profits – leads to a lot of confusion in the company. Clarity comes when everything should lead to more sales
Instead of trying to earn 8 percent on Wall Street, B2B private businesses selling expensive products and services can earn a staggering amount of money if they are disciplined and marketing oriented. Your business is your largest financial asset which you need to leverage.
Most business owners don’t even know that personal wealth is the end game. They spend 30 years inside their business and are more or less penniless. Some put money away privately, but the final sum only amounts to what they would have anyway working for someone else and making a salary.
The marketing function can be measured as accurately as your finance function
An Interview with Phaneesh Murthy, CEO of iGate Patni
How Phaneesh Murthy has fool-proofed his big-ticket M&A from failing
Phaneesh Murthy earned his Lamborghini from the founders of iGate although he can now afford one. After he acquired Patni Computers early 2011, Murthy became one of Indian IT’s new superstars.
His company, iGate crossed the magic figure of $ One Billion market cap last year and is on course to crosssing the same figure in revenues soon. That’s if his acquisition of Patni Computers works according to plan.
In an absorbing interview with Benedict Paramanand, Editor of ManagementNext, Phaneesh Murthy, CEO of iGate and Patni, articulated his unique M&A strategy, how he has fool-proofed it from failing, what personal sacrifices he had to pay to make it happen, how the industry has not understood him yet, and the Indian IT’s new leadership crisis.
Did you get your Lamborghini for your achievements from your founders?
The idea was that at that point when I joined iGATE in Mid 2003, the market cap of the company was less than $100m. There was no mid-sized that had, from that point, reached a market cap of $1b. Therefore, when I proposed a 2012 plan to reach a market cap and revenues of $1b, the two founders of iGATE who owned 56% of the company at that time, just could not believe it. They said that if you reach that we will give you a Lamborghini. It was in that context more than anything else.
Your secret weapons to make the acquisition work…
Why Executive MBAs are a big draw
A positive business environment, after the nasty recession, is encouraging hundreds of mid-career Indian executives to risk their jobs to do an executive MBA. Find out what is driving them to it and what is in store for them once they complete it.
Executive MBA is becoming a hot property in India today even as the MBA appears to be losing glamour. This is evident in the growing number of B-Schools and other colleges offering a mid-career education break to executives who believe it can fast-track their career and open up leadership positions.
Mid-career professionals, who joined work after their professional courses, especially with technical domains, have always felt the need to acquire an MBA. More than the urge to learn new managerial skills, they wouldn’t like to be left behind in the corporate rat race by those who come with a technical plus MBA degrees. Never mind that these double degree holders would have forgotten what their technical degree taught them and come ready to become managers.
ManagementNext spoke to a few executive MBA students at the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore’s Executive Post Graduate Program (EPGP), to get a flair of what went through their minds before chucking their jobs and shelling out Why Executive MBAs are a big draw Students of the latest IIMB EPGP batch at the IIMB campus 20 ManagamentNext | Double Issue – June-July 2011 their own money (doesn’t come cheap) and do the program.
Acquiring skills is your own responsibility!
Sandeep Dhar is currently CEO at Tesco HSC in Bangalore. He has over 20 years of experience working with leading global organisations and has worked across different verticals from retail banking and IT Consulting to Business Process Management across Asia, Europe and North America. Sandeep has worked with Sapient, as the Managing Director of their India operations, at Mphasis-EDS, ABN AMRO Bank and Citibank.
Most successful business leaders have at least one unusual interest. In Sandeep Dhar’s case, it’s a fascination with Asian religion and philosophy. He was drawn to it while working in many Asian capitals that have rich cultural heritage.
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